Dissecting IT as a Function for Early Career Talent

In my experience, I’ve observed that College Students and Early career professionals most often have a very limited view of what IT is all about. Is it just about programming languages and building some websites and applications, Databases, Data Science and Ethical hacking ? Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Hacking seems to be the buzzwords. While It is commendable to see students taking up courses on these topics through various platforms like Coursera, edX etc., and building up their knowledge base, it is important to call out that such Foundational courses are designed to give you a 10000 ft view of the same. The devil lies in the details.

Let us take a broader view of the Domains within IT and understand them better. I will dissect the role of IT in an Industrial company and expose you to a plethora of opportunities available for you. This will allow you to appreciate what the platter looks like and you can then deep dive into areas of your interest.

I would break the IT Function into 5 broad domains:

Chief Technology Office(CTO): The CTO team creates the strategy for technology platforms to be used by the entire organization and sets up the overall technology standards and practices and ensures adherence. This includes Identification, comparison, selection and implementation of technology solutions/infrastructure assets - like Network, Voice, Telecom Operations/Mobility, Servers, OS, Data Centers, Laptops, Desktops etc. It is responsible to track, analyze and monitor technology performance metrics and oversee all system design and changes in system architecture.

Enterprise/Business Applications: This is a space which is most unfamiliar to college students, but this is what constitutes the bulk of the Enterprise. These include the ERPs, CRMs, PLM, Supply Chain Mgmt. Systems, Finance Systems, HR Systems etc. which are used across the Enterprise and are the mission-critical software products which enable the organization to operate their Business processes. All Material and Financial transactions are recorded into, and flow through these systems. There are few key things to remember if you decide to be a part of this space :

1)    This is a long-cycled space. You need to spend at least 5 years or more in this space and develop deep Business expertise associated with these applications, if you were to be considered as an expert in this. A short stint in this space does not really add any significant value either to your expertise or your resume. A reasonably good stint here has an opportunity to evolve you into a very strong techno-functional Business leader.

2)    This is more suited for those, who are more interested in developing Business knowledge compared to “Hardcore techies”, who like to spend sleepless nights trying to develop “cool” stuff – the reason being that in majority of the cases, Companies do not build these software. They buy these softwares from established Product vendors – and what is left to be done technically is configurations and minor enhancements.

3)    Since these are mission-critical systems, it is essential that before an individual is provided access to these systems – they need to undergo a good amount of training in the same. Hence, the lead times to become productive is higher in this space and at times demotivate the “enthusiastic” early career professionals.

Custom Applications: This one is easy to explain as most of you have some exposure to this through your studies or university course works/projects. To keep it simple, these are applications (primarily websites and mobile apps) that are developed in-house and designed to address specific Business needs, very intrinsic just to the organization. While this seems to be the most exciting space for the “Tech savvy” professionals, the Business impact created by such applications could typically be (not necessarily) lower compared to Enterprise Apps. However, if you are developing a Software Product in this space, this can generate tremendous Business outcome comparable to Enterprise applications.

Data & Analytics: A career in Data & Analytics is invariably confused to be Data Science by students and early career professionals. This is the buzzword today and everyone seems to be getting excited about it. It feels cool to be able to provide Prescriptive Analytics by applying standard Machine Learning algorithms on large data sets. However, if we look at the life cycle of data, it all starts with raw data coming in from various sources – this data then needs to be cleaned, relevant attributes selected, and Standard Reports created. Once this maturity is achieved, this then graduates to Generic Predictive Analytics followed by Predictive Modeling and Optimization. The biggest issue that the Industry is facing today is with Data quality associated to raw data. You could not reach to a Data Science and Machine Learning stage unless Data Ingestion and Data Quality issues are resolved, and preliminary analysis could be done using standard Data visualization tools. This requires strong “Data Engineering” skills which involves knowledge of ETL Tools, Databases and Data Visualization tools. You will grow into a Data Scientist, but you will most likely start your career in this space as a Data Engineer. Data & Analytics is an inherent part of any software project.

Cybersecurity: Cybersecurity is typically equated to Ethical Hacking. It would be noteworthy to mention that Hacking is one of the many opportunities available in this space. This function is responsible to protect the organizations' cyber security objectives (including Risk and Compliance) efficiently and cost effectively. A career in this space could involve a multitude of other activities (Refer Image) along with installing, administering, maintaining and troubleshooting computer, network and data security systems. This could potentially involve a lot of documentation work around defining, designing and documenting policies, controls and audit mechanism. Cybersecurity typically operates as a horizontal in the organization and is embedded in all IT Infrastructure, applications and IT Projects in the organization.